Focus on the kitchen...

This weekend we begin sanding the house full force. Then once we get the floors out of the way, we'll be in a position to move into the house and stop paying for 2 homes. But after the floors, it'll be full steam ahead on the kitchen. So now that we've made some decisions about how we're handling the floors, we can start planning the remaining aspects of the kitchen.

Here's a reminder of the before, so you'll understand that anything we do will be better than this:

Yep, that's fruit-themed vinyl faux tile on the backsplash. The fridge goes on the far left of this picture. The only change being made to the layout is that our new gas stove, is being installed on the opposite wall from the one you see here. We'll be choosing a yellow color for the walls, and the ceiling fan is a goner-- a new gift for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We purchased the appliances during a labor day sale-- Frigidaire silver mist gas range, microwave and top-freezer refrigerator. I don't like the way stainless smudges and we couldn't afford the non-smudgy kind. The dishwasher is a black Frigidaire with all the bells and whistles-- I haven't lived in a place with a dishwasher since I was 9 years old, so this was the one appliance we wanted to splurge on. Someday, I'll upgrade to drawer style...mmm...Oh, and lighting decisions come a bit later, when we decide if we have room for an island. We're gonna live in the kitchen for a bit before we make that choice.

So anyway, we gutted the thing, replaced the walls and here's where we stand now.

Cabinets are at least partially in place. We will be adding another upper cabinet to the far right so that we can attach the microwave. We have an old lower cabinet component that we won't be using, so I guess we'll adjust that to fit. We started sanding the uppers so we could refinish, and ended up deciding that they really are a pretty color naturally, so we'll just clear-coat them and leave as is. I don't like the door style, but they're pretty solid, so I may just learn to live with them for the time-being.

We still need to replace the countertop base; it's currently particle board, which will swell under the tile. Sink is graphite ($235 at Lowes), and faucet is in oil-rubbed bronze (which I happily found on Overstock for $65!!). The surface is going to be Uba Tuba granite tile (also part of the Labor Day sale purchase-- at 20% off they were about $7.70/ft2), and we'll do a wood trim edge-- I think we should get a piece of trim that matches the cabinets. Adam's not sold on the idea.

As for the backsplash, I had wanted to use yellow/beige 4 inch translucent glass tiles. They, however, cost an arm and a leg. Then we discovered metallic glazed tiles in bronze. They cost the other arm and leg. I suggested bead board painted the same color as the walls (a light yellow, eventually) but with a slightly shinier top coat, and that one was nixed right out of the gate. "Too country," apparently. We both think a tumbled stone look would look good, but I think that would be a little boring-- predictable.

My newest suggestion is faux tin ceiling tiles. They're moderately priced; somewhere between nice ceramic or stone tiles and glass at ~$18 per 18X24" tile. if nothing else, these just seem so much easier to install than tile, especially with the goofy, uneven masonry/concrete wall that this stuff is going on top of.


At any rate, neither of us has outright nixed this idea, so it still has a fighting chance.

Then again, I do have a knack for talking myself out of Brilliant Ideas all the time.